


Silver Light

by xenoshadel



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 08:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3970777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoshadel/pseuds/xenoshadel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired prompt: Person B secretly listening to Person A sing a sweet lullaby to their child every night. After Person A unexpectedly passes away, Person B attempts to sing the same lullaby to their son/daughter, but ends up bursting into tears, much to the child’s confusion.<br/>The silver moon that matched her hair was always a comforting sight for the thief and young child... or so, it used to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver Light

The sound of a giggle caught the ears of the tactician and she smiled to herself, closing the book she was reading and walking to the room that the sound bounced in. Under a blanket and peaking his head out, ginger hair and brown eyes flashed at Robin and she chuckled at the sight.

“Morgan, I thought I put you to bed already,” she teased, running her fingers through his hair only to have him pull away and shake his head.

“Not until you sing, Mommy,” he said in a familiar playful tone.

Robin hummed in acknowledgment and nodded when she folded the blanket to properly tuck him in. “You always seemed to sleep better whenever I sing, but you better not peak an eye open when I’m finished, mister.”

“I promise, Mommy.” He bopped his head as though to prove his sincerity and watched as his mother pulled up a stool and began to softly sing.

“Silver light, silver shine, oh how bright you are. You raise up high and take my spirit with you, climbing up into the starry sky. You smile down at me and take my sorrows away, oh silver light, silver shine. Golden light, golden face, peeking from the horizon and waving at the moon hello and goodbye…”

Little did she know that a particular thief was listening to her on the other side of the door, his smile gentle from the lovely voice that danced with the words. He usually hoped to catch her singing to their son, not because of how angelic her voice appeared but because she seemed to soothe him and Morgan whenever she finished. Gaius had teased her once to sing to him, which she responded with a playful remark of her own, but seeing Morgan sound asleep when he walked in to kiss him goodnight was always… comforting. A voice that strung his heart and eased his mind as much as it calmed their young son, and to think how lucky he was whenever he got the chance to hear her every night.

Every night he had hoped, and never thought any less of, for the voice to become magical again. It was another night, but after he heard the door knock and saw the conflicted face of Lon’qu rather than Robin, the hope slightly dwindled.

“Late night isn’t it, Mister Super Swordsman?” Gaius said, his arms folded.

Not even a scoff or a twitch of a smirk from the myrmidon, and the furrowed brows deepened. “Gaius, do you remember the band of rogues that attacked the town a few weeks ago?”

The thief frowned at the memory. “They’re back again?”

“Yes, and they began their attack as quickly as they appeared. Chrom and Frederick appeared in time to group the villagers attending the festival and kept them out of harm’s way, but Robin…” Lon’qu hesitated for a moment and green eyes narrowed at him.

“She is okay and she is on her way, you mean?” Gaius kept his voice level, biting his lower lip as he stared at him. “Just talking to Blue and making her merry way?”

“Gaius… she didn’t make it. An archer found her after the first wave settled but it was too late.”

The thief was silent for a moment, a moment too long to register the thought of the tactician lying limp on the ground. The woman who once lead an army to victory, who fell multiple times but always stood back up with grit and determination… now to never stand up again.

“That is quite a joke you’re playing, Lon’qu,” Gaius murmured, dismissing the fact that he dropped the nickname.

As much as he wanted to brush the image away, to push it out of his mind when the myrmidon lead him to the few Shepherds that saved the villagers, he couldn’t once he saw the bloodstained robe by a healer’s tent. The silver hair that was matted with dirt and leaves when it struck the ground, the dried blood on her clothes, but what gave his breathing an irregular pace to follow was how cold Robin looked on the stretcher. Pale, broken, _lifeless_ , words he never wanted to think of when he cupped her cheek with his hand, stroking the skin gently with his thumb. His fingers fell to touch her lips where the sounds of laughter and power once trailed away and followed a path to his ears. But her mouth was slack, the lips dry and cracked from hitting the earth after her collapse, and that was when he realized he’ll never hear her sing again.

After being coaxed up and receiving a promise for revenge from Chrom, who gripped his sword a few times to calm himself when he spoke to him, the thief was lead back to his home. Nodding in farewell at the small group, Gaius ran a hand through his hair and clenched his jaw when he closed the door. The image reappeared and he shook his head at it, trying to deny the truth that jumped in the walls of his mind. How empty the robe had looked without the tactician in it, how much he wanted to hug it to his chest before he allowed the others to take it to properly clean off the blood for him. The moonlight that was meant to be comforting suddenly held a certain chill to it…

“Daddy?”

Gaius snapped his head up and found Morgan looking at him by the door of his room. The boy rubbed his eyes and stifled back a yawn when he asked, “Where’s Mommy? It’s singing time.”

The thief walked over to him and took his hand to lead him back to his bed. “Hey squirt, Daddy is going to sing to you tonight instead,” he said, forcing himself to smile at the way his son’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Is that all right?”

“Where’s Mommy?” Morgan repeated. Not that he minded, but he knew that his father would usually bake late night goodies or sleep in early. Maybe it was mommy’s turn this time?

“She's… very busy, squirt. She won’t be back for a while.”

Morgan flashed a toothy smile and exclaimed, "Mommy went to get the moon for us!”

Gaius quietly chuckled and nodded, setting himself on the stool and ruffling his ginger hair. “That’s right. She’s getting the moon she sings about, and I’ll sing for her until she gets it.”

“Okay!” Brown eyes gleamed in anticipation and he waited for his father to take a breath before starting the verse.

“Silver light, silver shine…”

Although it wasn’t as sweet and gentle as his mother’s voice, the thief’s low voice had a certain charm to it when he sang. Morgan listened in fascination and the brown eyes that matched his mother, filled with curiosity and enthusiasm, made Gaius falter his words when he looked into those eyes.

“You raise up high and—and take my spirit with you,” Gaius continued, fighting for his glazed eyes to hold back the tears that built up. “You smile down at me and t-take my sorrows away.”

“Daddy?” Morgan asked, reaching with his hand to touch the tear that strayed down Gaius’s cheek. “Are you sad about Mommy being with the moon?”

Gaius took a deep breath and shook his head a bit too quickly. “No, I’m not sad. The moon took her up and her spirit, squirt. I just… like that part.“

More tears trickled down his eyes and he turned his face away for a moment. Morgan gave him a small frown and looked out the window where the moonlight reached out to them. He saw nothing but that silver shine, the light his mother would always sing about and his father liked seeing. He shrugged off the thought and murmured a small ‘thank you’ to the thief when he brought himself to finish the song, shifting himself comfortably and closing his eyes. Gaius’s smile trembled and he leaned to kiss him on the forehead, silently relieved that a tear didn’t fall on the child’s face. He knew there will be more days like this, where the silver light will wait for him to hear that song, and when he stepped out and headed to his own room, now emptier and colder than before, he slid down the wall and gritted his teeth to hold back a sob. The tears continued to spill from his eyes and dripped down his clothes when he put his head between his hands, and he ignored his ragged breathing when he murmured the final verse:

"Golden light, golden face… waving at the moon hello and… goodbye…”

**Author's Note:**

> Will I give my sweet family a break from the angst? ...probably not. The prompt was fun to work with and you can also find this work on my Tumblr [@xenoshadel](http://xenoshadel.tumblr.com/). Thanks for the read, everyone! c: I also have a [ko-fi page](http://ko-fi.com/A35327K1/) if anyone ever wants to leave me a tip!


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